Category Archives: Liberal religion

Possibilities for Post-Christian Worship, pt. 2

Second in a series. Bibliography will be included with the final post. Back to the first post in this series.

(B) What is worship for a post-Christian congregation?

What is the purpose of worship in a post-Christian congregation? The Unitarian Universalist Commission on Common Worship (1983) says of worship:

Though it is often defined as reverence given to a divine being or power, it need not have supernatural implications. The origin of the word “worship” is in the Old English weorthscippen, meaning to ascribe worth to something….

This is a start towards an understanding of why we worship, although it leaves unanswered the question of what that “something” is to which we are going to ascribe worth. James Luther Adams (1998) goes further, saying:

The free church is that community which is committed to determining what is rightly of ultimate concern to persons of free faith.

Continue reading →

Possibilities for Post-Christian Worship, pt. 1

First in a series. Bibliography will be included with the final post.

(A) What is “post-Christian”?

At the beginning of his monumental history of American liberal theology, scholar Gary Dorrien (2001, p. xx) briefly addresses the state of liberal theology today, saying: “Today the liberal perspective in theology encompasses a wide spectrum of Christian and, arguably, post-Christian and interreligious positions.” This statement of Dorrien’s raises the interesting question of what a post-Christian or interreligious position might look like, and the even more interesting question of what a post-Christian or interreligious congregation might look like.

I would state with some confidence that post-Christian and interreligious congregations do exist, and have existed for some years now. In 1971, Dana Greeley, who was president of the Unitarian Universalist Association from 1961 to 1969, wrote:

A question asked of Unitarians and Universalists again and again is “Are you Christians?” I have spoken and written many times on this subject, but I have no simple answer to the question. Most Catholic and Protestant Christians, until fairly recently anyway, would have said that we are not Christians. Most Jews would think that we are Christians. When I told one Unitarian friend that Anglicanism’s Dean Stanley referred to Channing as “the morning star of the second reformation,” my friend immediately concluded that Channing was heralding or prophseying a new era, and as Protestantism (resulting from the first Reformation) went beyond Catholicism, so the second Reformation would go beyond Protestantism; a post-Protestant, post-Christian era would begin. Numerous people believe that, or interpret Unitarianism that way. It is a plausible diagnosis, though Channing would never have thought of himself as the forerunner of a non-Christian faith. (For that matter, Jesus would never have thought of himself as the forerunner of a non-Jewish faith.)

In this passage, Greeley begins to develop one plausible definition for what it might mean to have a post-Christian position as a positive, affirmative religious stance. First of all, Greeley’s post-Christian position looks enough like Christianity to be perceived as such by non-Christians; whereas most avowed Christians would deny that the post-Christian is indeed Christian. Today, many Unitarian Universalist congregations could be characterized as post-Christian using this criterion. They retain certain outward aspects of Christianity, such as holding weekly communal meetings on Sunday morning — a distinctively Christian practice. At the same time, they do not fulfill some common criteria for determining whether or not someone is Christian. Speaking from a Unitarian Universalist perspective, Edward A. Cahill (1974) writes: “Christianity calls for the acceptance on faith of a precisely defined belief system,” in contrast to, say Judaism which requires “observance of rigorous social and ritualistic prescripts”; and both these traditions contrast with Unitarian Universalism which requires “the exercise of the free use of reason in an open atmosphere of mutual respect.” Neither Christian nor non-Christian, Unitarian Universalists might best be described as post-Christian.

Greeley’s second point provides a more positive definition of the post-Christian position. More positively, a post-Christian position can be seen as continuing in the tradition of the Protestant Reformation, by taking what is perceived as the best of the Christian tradition while rejecting certain aspects of the tradition which are seen as non-essential. Thus, the post-Christian position retains a connection with Christian tradition, but moves outside some common definitions of what it means to be Christian. We might expand Greeley’s definition to include positions that are derived from the moral, religious, and/or ethical teachings of Christianity but which retain an openness to other moral, religious, and/or ethical teachings.

It’s important to remember that some other definitions emphasize that the post-Christian position has lost what it truly means to be a Christian. For example, the term “post-Christian” may be used in certain Christian circles to indicate persons who lack basic knowledge of the Christian tradition; or “post-Christian” can refer to a society which was perceived as formerly being grounded in Christian values, but which had fallen away from Christianity and into secularism. However, in this essay I am using the term in its positive sense.

Next: What is worship for a post-Christian congregation?

Plain words

This week, I’m taking one of my weeks of study leave. Most Unitarian Universalist ministers receive four weeks of study leave each year, during which time we are relieved of ordinary duties (although we remain on call for emergencies), and can read, take courses, engage in spiritual reflection, or otherwise study and take in new material.

The congregation here at First Unitarian seems to like responsive readings, but the worship committee and I have become bored with the unison and responsive readings in the back of the current Unitarian Universalist hymnal, Singing the Living Tradition. Increasingly, I have found myself finding such readings elsewhere; so the members of the worship committee suggested I assemble a collection of such readings. That has become my central project for this week of study leave.

It’s an interesting project, because I’m trying to use material that’s in the public domain. Fortunately, some of the best English translations of various scriptures and writings from the world’s religions are now in the public domain. I have been collecting printed copies of some of these, and these days I can find many more on the Web.

Eventually, I’ll post my collection of responsive readings on my Web site. In the mean time, maybe you’ll like this reading, taken from the Taoist tradition, as much as I did:

Plain Words

By abandoning the appetites and restraining the passions, you may escape trouble and anxiety.

By keeping clear of calumny and beyond the reach of suspicion, you may avoid hindrance to your affairs.

By abhorring the wicked and expelling slanderers from your presence, you may put a stop to disorder.

By extensive study and eager questionings you may greatly enlarge your knowledge.

By a high course of conduct and a reserve in conversation, you may cultivate the person.

By providing against disaffection and knowing how to use your power, you will be able to unravel complications.

By firmness and stability of purpose, you will establish merit.

By impregnable virtue, you will be able to preserve yourself securely until death.

By consulting with the benevolent and making friends of the outspoken and blunt, you may receive support in seasons of adversity.

By doing to others as you would wish to be done by, and being sincere and honest in all your dealings, you may attract all people to become your friends.

From “The Su Shu: The Book of Plain Words,” in Taoist Texts: Ethical, Political, and Speculative, collected and trans. Frederic Henry Balfour (London, 1884).

It never hurts to make friends with the outspoken and blunt….

Furnace and vacation

Finally, the weather turned cold again. When I took a walk this afternoon, it wasn’t that cold — just below freezing — but the wind was blowing hard enough that I had to lean into it at times. I had to walk hard and fast to get warm. It felt good to take deep breaths of the cold, dry air.

Once the sun went down, the temperature started dropping quickly. I had to make a hospital visit, and on the way there I checked the heat in the church. The furnace was off again. I hit the reset button on the burner, and it roared back to life. I got back from the hospital, had a late dinner, and on a hunch went back up to the church to check the heat again — of course the furnace was off yet again.

So here I sit, waiting for the furnace repairman to show up. He is no happier than I to have to go out on such a cold night; what makes it worse is that he’s been here at least once a week since Christmas. Our architect tells us that the whole heating plant needs to be replaced; so our repairman fixes one thing, and something else breaks.

I’m taking a week of study leave, which begins next week — next week begins in approximately ten minutes. When I’m on study leave, I’m supposed to devote myself to study and continuing education, and I’m not supposed to go to the church at all. But I will still be here past midnight.

I still like cold weather, but I hate deferred maintenance.

I’m not qualified

The annual Unitarian Universalist blog awards process has begun again. I do not plan to nominate or vote. There are something like 200 Unitarian Universalist blogs, but I can only seem to keep up with two or three them on a regular basis. So I don’t feel qualified to say which is the year’s best blog, or which is the year’s best blog entry.

Sometimes I feel guilty that I don’t read lots of Unitarian Universalist blogs. But I like to read blogs written from other religious perspectives, like the blog entries aggregated at The Daily Scribe, with authors who write from Jewish, pagan, progressive Christian, Emergent Christian, humanist, and Buddhist perspectives. That kind of thing broadens my mind, and my mind could use some broadening.

And I am just as likely to read non-religious blogs: my two sisters’ blogs (Jean, Abby); the Horn Books Magazine blog Read Roger; and maybe Boing Boing and Bad Astronomy. Then there are the many newspapers, magazines, books, and the reading matter I get from Carol. Sitting on the dining room table waiting for me right now are: The Small-Mart Revolution (from Carol), The Shorebird Guide, rattapallax 13, Asimov’s science fiction magazine, The Post-Corporate World (also from Carol), Boswell’s Life of Johnson, a book on religions of the African diaspora, and Harvard Business Review.

Not that I’ll get around to reading everything on that list. But I never wanted to be a specialist, and I can only do so much specialized reading. The pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus said, “Those who love wisdom must be inquirers into very many things indeed.” Not that I’d count myself wise, but I’m certainly not qualified to judge Unitarian Universalist blogs.

Update: An attempt at defining a set of criteria for what constitutes a “good religious blog” here.

Tales of the Rabbis

I’ve been working on a series of stories for liberal religious kids, and here’s another story from this work-in-progress. This is part of a series of “Tales of the Rabbis,” taken from the Talmud and from medieval sources. The stories of rabbis are reminiscent first of stories of Zen masters, and second (obviously) they are reminiscent of stories of Jesus. The story below should be familiar to anyone who has taught Sunday school for a few years; but my version tries to remain closer to the original version in the Talmud (without the common Christian interpretations that creep in, like changing or criticizing Rabbi Hillel’s one-sentence version of the Torah/Law), and my version also gives the original source. Note that the version below is still a rough draft.

You can find more of my Tales of the Rabbis here.

Standing on One Foot

A man came to talk with Rabbi Shamai, one of the most famous of all the rabbis, nearly as famous as Rabbi Hillel himself.

“I would like to convert to Judaism and become a Jew,” said the man. “But I don’t have much time. I know I have to learn the entire book you call the Torah, but you must teach it to me while I stand on one foot.”

The Torah is the most important Jewish book there is, and this crazy man wanted to learn it while standing on one foot? Why, people spent years learning the Torah; it was not something you can learn in five minutes! Rabbi Shamai grew angry with this man, and he pushed the man away using a builder’s yardstick he happened to be holding in his hand.

The man hurried away, and found Rabbi Hillel. “I would like to convert to Judaism and become a Jew,” said the man. “But I don’t have much time. I know I have to learn the entire book you call the Torah, but you must teach it to me while I stand on one foot.”

“Certainly,” said Rabbi Hillel. “Stand on one foot.”

The man balanced on one foot.

“Repeat after me,” said Rabbi Hillel. “What is hateful to you, don’t do that to someone else.”

The man repeated after Rabbi Hillel, “What is hateful to me, I won’t do that to someone else.”

“That is the whole law,” said Rabbi Hillel. “All the rest of the Torah, all the rest of the oral teaching, is there to help explain this simple law. Now, go and learn it so it is a part of you.”

Source: Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sabbath 31a.

Talmud online:

The Babylonian Talmud, edited by Rabbi Dr. Isidore Epstein of Jews’ College, London.

The Babylonian Talmud, translated by Michael L. Rodkinson (1918).

Passivity and leadership

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, one of the readings for the sermon this week will be Exodus 16.1-3; the other reading will be from Leadership for the Twenty-First Century by Joseph Rost. You can look up the passage from Exodus on your own [link]; here’s the passage from Rost’s book:

Followers are part of the leadership relationship in a new paradigm of leadership. What is different about the emerging view of followers is the substantive meaning attached to the word and the clarity given to that understanding. The following five points give the concept of followers substance and clarity.

First, only people who are active in the leadership process are followers. Passive people are not in a relationship. They have chosen not to be involved. They cannot have influence. Passive people are not followers.

Second, active people can fall anywhere on a continuum of activity from highly active to minimally active, and their influence in the leadership process is, in large part, based on their activity, their willingness to get involved, their use of the power resources they have at their command to influence other people….

Third, followers can become leaders and leaders can become followers in any one leadership relationship. People are not stuck in one or the other for the whole time the relationship exists…. This ability to change places without changing organizational positions gives followers considerable influence and mobility.

Fourth, in one group or organization people can be leaders. In other groups and organizations they can be followers. Followers are not always followers in all leadership relationships.

Fifth, and most important, followers do no do followership, they do leadership. Both leaders and followers form one relationship that is leadership. There is no such thing as followership in the new school of leadership. Followership makes sense only in the industrial leadership paradigm, where leadership is good management. Since followers who are subordinates could not do management (since they were not managers), they had to do followership. No wonder followership connoted subordination, submissiveness, and passivity. In the new paradigm, followers and leaders do leadership. They are in the leadership relationship together. They are the ones who intend real changes that reflect their mutual purposes….. Followers and leaders develop a relationship wherein they influence one another as well as the organization and society, and that is leadership. [pp. 108-109; emphasis in original]

Rost’s analysis of leadership is one of the best I’ve seen. The book is pretty dry, but it’s worth wading through the academic prose to get to the ideas.

Ideas like: “Passive people are not followers.” I see this happening in liberal religion right now. There are the passive people who sit and complain about having to take on responsibility for their own well-being (as happens in Exodus 16.1-3). There are the passive people can also hide behind individualism as their excuse for not being active followers; “doing your own thing” all too often translates into doing things that don’t effect real change (as happens in Exodus 32.21-29, which I almost used as one of this week’s readings). Individualism is my preferred form of passivity.

Church marketing blog

Peter Bowden of UUPlanet sent me a link to Church Marketing Sucks, a blog that is devoted to creating good church marketing. Some good material on this blog. For example, I liked this recent entry:

January 5, 2007
New Year Poll
(Filed under: Poll Results)

Last week we asked about your church marketing hopes and dreams for 2007. The perennial favorite, a web site that doesn’t make people cringe, took the top spot with 34%. Next came the novel concept of planning with 25%, followed by braqnd consistency at 21%. More of the same and as few typos as possible tied for 8%, and only 4% are planning a church name change in 2007. [Link.]

(You have to think that typo is in there just for laughs.)

The top three hopes and dreams are probably a good starting place for many churches, although I’d say planning should be in first place.

Hidden upgrade

Over the past week and a half, I’ve been cleaning up some technical problems on this Web site. One problem in particular has been bugging me:– I wanted to make it easy to print entries from this blog, because every once in a while I want to share something I write here with someone who doesn’t have computer access. In a sense, this represents a problem in accessibility.

The blogging software I use, WordPress, comes with a default setting that strips away all formatting when you try to print from a Web browser. So I wrote a new stylesheet specifically for printing. Which should have been an easy task.

But it wasn’t, and it took me a couple of hours to debug the new stylesheet. You see, most Web browsers do not comply with the CSS2 specification — which means that if you try to print a page from this blog from Internet Explorer, say, or Safari, things won’t work quite right. Most importantly, printing from Explorer or Safari will mean that when there’s a link in the text, all that will print is the text you see on the screen. But if you print from CSS2-compliant browser like Firefox, the address of the link will also print out. (I have made the rest of the site printer-friendly, too — with the same caveat.)

Two conclusions: (1) Everyone should use Firefox as their primary Web browser (besides, it’s free). (2) Until we see better compliance with basic Web standards, creating Web sites will continue to be overly time-consuming — which creates problems for small non-profit groups and small congregations.

Do-It-Yourself:
Printing with CSS — general principles, from “A List Apart”
CSS styles for print in WordPress